James A. Baldwin's Use Of Civil Disobedience In The United States

James A. Baldwin, an American novelist and social critic, stated that, “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” The right to stand against our country and protest against what’s wrong makes us powerful diverse people. We, the American people, are in charge of our country and we must make her forever progressive and right. Part of this forward motion is civil disobedience. Civil disobedience was used to create our nation, exercise our civilian powers, and is still used today to eradicate benighted ideas and laws. Without civil disobedience it’s impossible to see where we would be today. The first act of civil disobedience was the Boston Tea Party. On December, 16, 1773 the group Sons of Liberty created a political demonstration against the Tea Act. The Tea Act was an unfair tax used to make us pay for their war. This is one of many times we were treated differently and unfairly than citizens living in Britain. The act of throwing tea into the harbor ignited tension for more people to protest and overthrow the
That civil disobedience is an unnecessary disruption and any unfair law passed by legislative can be changed. Bills that become laws though take an average of 263.57 days if it even gets passed. And why would they change a law they liked in the first place? It’s noble and democratic to take the long way but if the issue is important to the benefit of citizens no should never be an answer. We should take control of the situation just as Benjamin Franklin said we could in the Declaration of Independence. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. We are the ones in charge and thanks to this textual evidence and the first amendment we have a right to protest and create